Round 9: From the Heart

Nate PriceSaturday, June 11, 2011

Tsuyoshi Fujita

vs.

Fabian Thiele

Starting off the second day of play, there was one undefeated player, the German Fabian Thiele. His opponent this round had already crushed Gaudenis Vidugiris's hopes of finishing undefeated in the final round of play yesterday. Would he be able to stop Thiele from continuing his undefeated streak, or will Thiele stop Fujita from playing spoiler?

Game 1

Fujita started with a Gremlin Mine and an Immolating Souleater off a pair of Islands. Unfortunately, that was all the lands he had. Thiele seemed incredulous when Fujita passed the turn back to him without playing a third land. Thiele drew some more cards with a Tezzeret's Gambit, eventually discarding a Steady Progress he hadn't shown an Island yet, so it was clear that he was digging for one. Fujita managed to find that third land on his next turn, adding a Snapsail Glider to his team. His attack dropped Thiele to 16.

After playing an Island, Thiele was able to play a Necropede and a Riddlesmith, slowing down Fujita's attacks. All Fujita could do was make a Strider Harness and attack with his flying Glider. He couldn't even equip it first since he had not found a fourth land. Thiele was more or less in control now, adding a Vedalken Anatomist to his team. With the Anatomist, Thiele was able to keep the Glider locked down while he slowly killed it.

Fujita had managed to poke through for a reasonable amount of damage, especially combined with the early Phyrexian-mana use by Thiele. His life total was 9. When Fujita made a Trespassing Souleater and equipped it with both Harnesses, Thiele fell to 5. When Thiele swung back, he chose not to activate his Souleater, content to drop Fujita to seven and five poison. Fujita tried to end the game with a Vulshok Heartstoker to pump his Souleater, but Thiele stopped it with Psychic Barrier. Instead, Fujita made a Phyrexian Metamorph to copy Thiele's Pestilent Souleater and attacked Thiele down to 3 with his Trespassing Souleater. Rather anticlimactically, Thiele untapped and aimed a Red Sun's Zenith at Fujita, prompting him to laugh.

Thiele swung in with his to creatures, one turn from death. That dropped Fujita to six. After his attack, Thiele tapped out and cast Life's Finale, which got an "Oooh" from Fujita. While he was looking through Fujita's deck, though, Fujita flashed the Vulshok Heartstoker that was going to hastily end the game on his turn. Thiele nodded and took careful note of Fujita's deck before conceding.

Thiele 1, Fujita 1

Game 3

Fujita started the final game with the same Silver Myr he'd managed in the second game, but Thiele had a Psychic Barrier to stop it. A Vulshok Heartstoker came down unabated, but didn't have anything to pump. When Thiele didn't play anything on turn four, Fujita knew something was up, simply attacking with his Heartstoker and passing the turn. He made a Blisterstick Shaman to hit Thiele on the following turn, but he clearly didn't want to run afoul of Life's Finale. Thiele made a Spin Engine to trade with the Heartstoker, forcing Fujita to add one more creature to the board, an Impaler Shrike. Thiele made a Flayer Husk to stop the Shaman and killed the Shrike with Red Sun's Zenith. He still hadn't played a second Swamp, but he appeared to be setting it up for Fujita to overextend into the Finale.